“We signed up to play this game and we’re going to play it,” Upshaw said. “We are not teaching our guys to quit.”

Perseverance is one of the school’s five stated and published core values, with this addendum: “We work hard even when we fail.”

Says Howard, the school’s founder, “We are building character here. Part of that is the discipline to do what you said you were going to do. We said we were going to play. We are going to play. Wins and losses are not what define us. We are developing young men.

“These young men will face difficult times later in life, maybe with their marriages or with their jobs or with life in general. We all face them, right? You do. I do. We all do. You can’t just quit, you know. You got to face up to them."

“Oh man, they are really, really good,” said McGhee, who is realistic about his and his team’s goals Friday night. “I just want to compete,” McGhee said. “We want to score against them, put some points on the board — not many teams do.”

“I want to compete,” Lewis said. “I want to show what I can do. I know how good they are, but I am not scared.”